Ford Scion Looks to Green Cars
Nov 24, 2008 – OK, I know the Scion car is made by Toyota. This scion is William C. Ford, Jr., the great-grandson of Henry Ford, and until 2006 CEO of the company. He is Chairman of the company and has been since 1999. Just as Ford Motor [NYSE: F] switched away from black cars [Henry famously wrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”], William Ford is trying to switch Ford from black fuel [petroleum based] to green fuels. The New York Times reports today that Ford 
is working behind the scenes with the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama while his successor as CEO, Alan R. Mulally has been testifying to Congress. In a meeting with Obama in August 2008, he said, “One of the things that we need to sort out as a country is batteries. We really don’t want to trade one foreign dependency, oil, for another foreign dependency, batteries.” As you might guess, the main producers of batteries are located in Asia. This is only natural as they make the majority of the electronics that use batteries. Ford has been the most vocal supporter of green efforts in Detroit even as the Ford Company makes a large amount of its profits from its pickup trucks [F-150] and SUVs. Next year Ford is introducing its EcoBoost engines that will cut fuel consumption by 20% and it is also concentrating on smaller cars. Ford is also in better financial shape than GM & Chrysler. Despite that, its shares are down about 80% this year, certainly affecting Mr. Ford and his family directly as they control virtually all of its class B shares & 40% of the shareholder vote. He claims that within 2 years 75% of Ford vehicles will qualify for the DOE “advanced vehicle technology” designation. He said he and the company are committed to helping Obama end America’s dependence on foreign oil independent of whether or not the government provides Detroit with a bailout before the end of 2008.
